


Twist and Turn

by whichstiel



Series: Season 15 Codas [3]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Book of the Damned, Episode Tag, F/M, Love Confessions, Post-Episode: s15e03 The Rupture, Resurrection, Spells & Enchantments, episode coda, spn 15x03, temporary queen of hell
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-25
Updated: 2019-10-25
Packaged: 2021-01-03 00:30:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21170438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whichstiel/pseuds/whichstiel
Summary: She walked through Hell in all her crumbling glory.Well, to say “walked” implied that her feet actually touched the ground. They didn’t.By the time Rowena fell to the depths of Hell it was no longer falling. She reached the bottom lightly, toes delicately pointed. They came to rest a scant inch from the ground.A Samwitch resurrection coda to ease you after this episode!





	Twist and Turn

**** She walked through Hell in all her crumbling glory.

Well, to say “walked” implied that her feet actually touched the ground. They didn’t.

By the time Rowena fell to the depths of Hell it was no longer falling. She reached the bottom lightly, toes delicately pointed. They came to rest a scant inch from the ground. There, she pivoted slowly, a small pink mote in the dark depths of Hell. From the corridors and peering around pillars the demons watched as she pressed a hand to the bloody wound in her gut. 

“Ach,” Rowena said, drawing her hand away to watch the blood glisten in the strange, damned light. “That’s a right mess. And I loved this dress, too.” She dropped her hand impatiently to her side and then glared around at the nearby demons. “Well? Will nobody fetch me a spot of tea? I have had a _very_ trying day.” When nobody moved except for one unlucky demon’s eye roll, Rowena drew her lips into a sideways smirk. Rose and red light crackled under her skin, highlighting her cheeks like an uncanny blush. She lifted one fine, delicate hand - the one unblemished with her own life blood - and snapped her fingers once. The demon’s howl was cut short as he dissolved in fire. Rowena lifted one, perfectly sculpted brow. “Well?” she demanded, this time with a hint of asperity. “Tea?”

* * *

The tea was long drained, and a more comfortable chair fetched for her from Crowley’s old inner sanctum, and Rowena still lived. Or, still died. The process of dying when one was a vessel for hundreds of souls was surprisingly slow.

Rowena had expected to implode somewhere between the Earth’s crust and the bottom of the Hell dimension exposed through the rift. That she still lived (or died slowly) seemed to largely be reliant on the souls pulsing beneath her skin. She could feed off their magic, she found, and use it to her own ends. So long as she didn’t heal herself, the spell she cast seemed to draw a barrier between herself and the brunt of their power. And so Rowena, still dying, lived in the pits of Hell. 

She walked the corridors like a packed pillar of salt, ready to crack and crumble at any wrong move. This didn’t bother her. Oh, she’d been through far worse in life, hadn’t she? If she was to die and be trapped forever as a spirit in Hell, she might as well start establishing a good place for herself here. _Make the most of it._ Aye, that was her way. It was routine business, therefore, to start ordering demons on errands. To tell them to fetch her spell ingredients and magical objects. For the good of Hell, she’d told them. But really she searched desperately for another way. Appallingly, she only hit on her new idea on the fourth day. 

_Queen of Hell._

It had a nice ring to it. She could vanquish her challengers as the half-dead goddess she was, and then reap the benefits as a drifting spirit once she’d succumbed to the souls. It gave her a goal to work towards.

* * *

Rowena saw the scythe resting against the far wall first and a thousand thoughts raced through her mind between that moment and raising her eyes to meet Billie’s gaze. She kept her face still as a pool. “And what are you doing here?” she chirped in a businesslike tone, gesturing down to her bloody abdomen. “Come to gloat? Say I told you so?”

Billie’s lips curved into a smile, her eyes cool, dark pools. “Rowena the Witch,” she intoned like it was some epic archetypal title. “Enjoying yourself?” Billie lifted a graceful finger to point at the silk divan, which held a tray with pomegranate seeds and cocoa held in whisper-thin ceramic bowls. “I hear you’re supposed to lay off those. According to the old tales.”

Scowling, Rowena crossed her arms and gripped her sides with taut fingers. “Those tales are rubbish. Hell’s a world of commodities and haves and have nots. I’m sure you know which I intend to be.” Something about Billie’s impassive gaze sent darts of anger up her spine. “You steered us here. Surely you can’t begrudge me this wee modicum of comfort.” 

Billie grinned, and it was a fearsome thing to see Death so self-satisfied. “I did steer you quite well, didn’t I?

Rowena kicked at the floor. Or rather, she kicked an inch above the floor. A small puff of dust erupted nearby in protest. “This isn’t fair, you know. I was trying to be better. Truly, I was.”

“Do you remember what I told you two years ago? That life isn’t fair?”

“Yes, and a bloody lot of good that does me now. Sentiments,” Rowena spat “don’t heal wounds. And it’s only a matter of time before my body fails to contain these spirits and I meet my end.”

Billie nodded in apparent agreement and let silence stretch between them. 

Rowena finally sighed. “So why are you here, then?”

“There’s a fight coming,” Billie said as easily as if she’d announced the weather for the following day. “And I’m placing my people on the board.” She jerked her chin towards Rowena’s bloodied gown. “You could live like this for quite some time. Perched between life and death. Magic has made you strong. Your body was strong enough to contain an archangel. Strong enough to contain multitudes. I can help prolong that.”

“What are you saying?”

“You’re a goddess.” Billie spoke the title simply, with no reverence. “And strong as Hell. Strong because of Hell. I could use a woman like you in the fight.”

Rowena laughed. “You want me to fight at your side.” She rolled her eyes around them. “The universe has surely gone mad.”

“It surely has,” Rowena affirmed, utterly serious. “And I’m trying to set it to rights in the best way I know how."

Rowena pretended to play with her necklace, but in reality her mind whirred. “And what would I get in return?”

“You know exactly what you’d get,” Billie said. “It’s what you’ve longed for.”

“And what is that?” Rowena ground her teeth. Getting a quick answer out of the former reaper turned Death was proving to be entirely exhausting. 

“Absolution. Not with everybody, of course. But with yourself.”

“Haven’t I earned enough of that?” Rowena asked, but she knew the answer. There would never be_ enough._ Not for her and her long life of mistakes. She slumped against the divan, hip digging into the cushion. “You told me once that some things just…are. Did you mean for me to do all that? To die to save the world from an escaping Hell?”

Billie shrugged, an elegant gesture which seemed to both convey volumes and nothing at all in the same quick move. “Some paths are better than others,” Billie admitted. “But your path was always leading you here. To me. Rowena the witch, trapped between life and death. You have more power now than you’d ever dared to dream. Will you use it to save the universe? To save us all?”

Rowena frowned and tried to appear disgruntled. But now that she was here in the moment, her fate seemed both inevitable and wide open. She’d already met her end up in that cemetery and faced its gruesome grin. There was truly nothing to lose now. “Fine. I’ll join you,” she said at last and seized up the bowl of pomegranate seeds. At Billie’s questioning look she protested, “I’m bleeding to death, not dead. It’s important to keep up my strength.” She sighed theatrically. “Lead on, then. I’d truly like to not feel I’ve thrown my life aside for nothing.”

“Good. Our first stop’s the Empty. Got a few other players stashed there. Then, we move.”

Rowena trailed after Billie, token seeds forgotten in her hand, and mouth open in shock. _The Empty? _Well, if she’d been played for a damn fool, at least it’d be interesting. 

A blast resounded down the sturdy rock corridor, piercing their ears and setting the ground atremble. Rowena hovered, undisturbed by the shaking ground, although she did begin to glow again. Honestly, a woman could only endure so many shocks to the system. 

Rock dust and the accumulated grave Earth of ages long past billowed at the end of the corridor and Rowena and Billie narrowed their eyes against it. They instinctively moved together, allies in name only so far, but no idiots. Something had broken into Hell. 

When the dust cleared, a single figure stood there. Rowena squinted to filter the dust, but refused to deign to cough. When she finally recognized who it was who stood there, her mouth dropped open. The air tasted like the grave, but she still said with a sharp exhale, “Sam?”

“Rowena!” Sam’s voice echoed down the corridor, just as breathless and gruff and idiotic as it had been above ground. “You’re okay! You’re alive!”

Rowena had reached her own personal breaking point at last. She bent forward so that her hands fell to her knees. She clutched them through the fine silk of her gown and she laughed and she laughed. 

When she was done laughing, she looked up to find Sam had approached and was carefully sizing up Billie. Death, for her part, looked back on Sam with an exasperated twist to her lips. “Sam Winchester,” Billie said slowly. “Can’t say it’s a pleasure.”

Sam nodded shortly, like Billie had just graciously extended her palm for a handshake. “Billie. I won’t let you take her.”

Billie twisted her lips into a smile that might have echoed delight. “Unfortunately for you and whatever plan you’ve cooked up, she’s coming willingly.”

This seemed to take Sam aback because he made a move to speak and then stopped. He turned to Rowena in confusion, eyes large and questioning. 

“I’m a bit of a goddess right now,” Rowena explained and she brought forth the glow from the souls to highlight the rosy cracks in her checks and spreading down her neck. “And apparently there’s a world needing saving. Again.”

“What? Billie, everything’s fine. It’s just…life now. No god, no apocalypse…”

Billie shook her head slowly. “Just like a Winchester to ignore the signs of the end of all things until it affects them personally.”

Rowena grimaced at Sam. “Now that’s an accurate statement,” she said with a note of apology. 

Sam shook his head and seemed to find his purpose again. He pulled forth a satchel which had been hidden behind his back and grabbed something from it. Rowena could sense it the moment Sam touched it and her palms itched for it. “I’ve got the Book of the Damned, Rowena. You left it behind and I… Well, I read it. And I know how to save you.”

“Sam—“ Rowena didn’t know how to continue.

“You thought it was evil,” Sam continued. “We all did at first.” He shook the book and it’s pages rattled. Sam ignored Rowena’s death glare at that, although he did hold the book more securely after that. “It’s bound in human skin - in her own skin. But it’s because she couldn’t endure harming anything else to write her visions and make sure they lasted long enough for me to get to you. It was a sacrifice rooted in kindness. And hope.”

Rowena stood speechless, and her feet almost drifted to touch the floor. Of course she’d read the passage Sam had summarized. The nun, explaining her sacrifice to make the book, had said it would save the world someday and help set the machineries of the universe to rights. _'And there will come to pass two witches...'_ Rowena had always written off that little chunk of text as the mad ravings of a brilliant witch turned nun, gone insane after denying herself magic. 

“You can go with Billie,” Sam said, an edge of desperation in his voice now. “You can finish your sacrifice and burn yourself out fighting at her side. Or—“

Rowena found that she tilted her head in question. In wonder. “Or I can help you get the souls out without killing you. We’ll heal you up. You can come back. Back to Earth.” His voice grew softer. Rougher. “You’d have a home there. With us. With me. If—if you wanted.”

“I don’t—“

Billie turned her uncanny, steady gaze towards Rowena. She was always so calm. Did she know this? Did she plan this? Or did she still need Rowena to wield souls at her side? “Plot twist,” she murmured simply. “You coming? I could use you in the fight. I need strong women at my side.”

“Please,” Sam gasped, and the edges of his eyes began to glimmer with gathering tears. “Let me fix my mistake. Let me bring you back.”

“Some mistakes can’t be fixed,” Rowena said slowly, remembering a conversation she’d had with Billie once. “They can only be endured.”

Sam seemed to crumple then. He shook his head. “Rowena.”

Rowena cleared her throat. Squared her shoulders. Glared at Billie in challenge. “Well,” she said, and was surprised to find a few tears of her own grating her voice into shreds. “I assume I have a choice?”

“Always.”

“Then I choose to live,” she said quickly, hearing Sam gasp beyond them. “I’m still bloody powerful as a witch, and hopefully I’ll live a bit longer than I would as an overwrought candlestick.”

“You’ll help me still?” Billie didn’t seem surprised.

“Of course I will,” Rowena spat. She turned back to Sam and tried to block out the sunshine of his relieved smile. “Well, how do we proceed?”

“You die at my hand,” Sam explained simply. “Quickly this time. And I link my life force to yours to bring you back.”

Rowena stared at him. She knew the spell. She knew what it meant. Warmth stole over her that had nothing to do with the souls trapped under her skin. A long time seemed to pass. “Sam?” she whispered. “Surely you don’t— Surely you can’t—“

“I tried to deny it and when you died— When I thought you died and I killed you, it broke me. Rowena, I think I lo—“

She shook her head fiercely. “Don’t say it,” she managed to get out, emotions clogging her throat. “Don’t.”

“I love you,” Sam told her, like a bloody young fool. And she was lost. 

“I’m sorry,” she said to Billie, who nodded slowly.

“Look me up when you get out,” Billie said simply, and vanished.

The look of relief Sam wore shattered Rowena, but she held it together as he strode towards her, clearly intent on some sort of display of physical affection. She held up a stern hand. “If you’re wrong, you’ll die too.” 

“I know,” Sam said, still advancing with hope shining in his eyes.

Rowena more firmly halted him with a gesture. “I’m full of a thousand souls, Samuel. I’d rather our first kiss take place with a little privacy, wouldn’t you?” She was gratified to see him smile, now shyly. She tugged the book from his arms and opened it to the spell. “Now,” she said more seriously. “Do you have all the ingredients?”

Together, they pulled out the supplies from Sam's satchel and chose a chamber near one of Hell’s gates to set up the spell. Once they were ready, Sam pulled out the same knife he’d used to mortally wound her in the cemetery, and that she’d twisted and turned to hasten her dying. This time, it was quick. This time, her resurrection was quick too.

Rowena blinked up at Sam, her body lying on the cold, stone floor. “Did it work?” she asked, even as she knew it did. She registered the cold stone beneath her back, the pain of recently healed wounds. Rowena laid a delicate hand against her now-intact stomach. “So you love me then,” she said quietly, the secret seeping into the stone walls of the chamber. 

Sam nodded. “I do. And you— The spell—“

Rowena rolled her eyes impatiently. Honestly, sometimes Winchesters needed things spelled out to an extreme measure, even the ones she loved. And more fool her. “Aye. Much to my surprise.” She reached up, wound a hand in his delicious hair, and kissed him until she got her fill. When she pulled back, Sam’s eyes were glazed over, lost, and she smiled at him. “Well? What are we waiting for? Let’s fight out way out of this bloody place. I could use a long bath. And a good dry cleaner. And some tea.”

“Anything,” Sam agreed, and they fought their way together up to the sunshine fields of Earth. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I'm on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/whichstiel) and [Tumblr](http://whichstiel.tumblr.com/) @ whichstiel. You may also like the Supernatural recap and gif blog I co-write/curate, [Shirtless Sammy](https://shirtlesssammy.tumblr.com/).


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